Lighthouse Keeper

Working in isolated and often harsh conditions, light keepers are responsible for tending and caring the lighthouse's flame through the night. The flames helps ships navigate the coastal areas swiftly and securely.
Typically a single keeper with an assistant keeper or two lived at the lighthouse. Depending on the lighthouse location, keepers my have limited access to town. The amount of ship traffic varies depending on the growing and trading seasons in the surrounding areas. Family visitors tend to be infrequent, usually coming during the shipping lulls and staying only for a couple of days. The positions are usually funded by the government and passed down within families or from keeper to assistant keeper.

Responsibilities

Lightkeepers are responsible for maintaining the lighthouse and making sure that the lighthouse flame is lit and maintained. This was usually done in four-hour overnight shifts. During the day, keepers kept a close eye on the weather, sounding the fog horn at 20-second intervals if visibility drops below 5 miles.
Because of their isolated locations, keepers need to be skilled operators, repairers, administrators, bookkeepers, and hosts. When caravans come with supplies, or inspectors came to assess lighthouse conditions, the keepers are expected to provide lodging for their stay. Keepers are also expected to maintain the Journal of the Station. Every day a keeper is expected to write a short one-line description of the weather on the left-hand page, and short one-line description of what's happening at the light house on the right-hand page. Each month is usually allocated one two-page spread.

History of Lighthouses

The first navigational lights were wood-burning beacon fires lit inside church towers, on top of fortification towers, or on the tops of hills. These generated a lot of smoke, inconsistent flames, and were easily replicated by others who were more interested in profiting from ship crashes than preventing them. Gradually the lighthouses switched to using controlled wick lanterns reliant on lard.
Because the creatures within the Ma'apua Strait make travel dangerous, the Shattered Narrows has become the most commonly used trading path for both Keolandand the Sea Prince Island Nations.
Over 65 lighthouses were constructed along the coastal line and islands in the Shattered Narrows. The completion of the lighthouse chains allowed commerce and trade to jump dramatically, with one keeper's log noting 14,852 ships sailing past in one year. Most of the lighthouses are officially owned by the government, and their keepers are considered government employees. The government sends packages of supplies for the lighthouses maintenance and the workers welfare and care.

Packages

Lighthouse caravans bring supplies to the lightkeepers along the lighthouse chain. These packages include paint, fuel, food, and a library box.

Annual Food Supplies

• Beef - 200 pounds
• Pork - 100 pounds
• Flour - 1 barrel
• Rice - 25 pounds
• Beans - 10 gallons
• Potatoes - 4 bushels
• Onions - 2 bushels
• Sugar - 50 pounds
• Vinegar - 4 gallons

The Library Box

The library box is 2 feet high, 2 feet wide, and 8 inches deep. Made of shellacked white pine and strengthened with heavy brass fittings, it has two shelves of different heights. The design allows for a stately display when in use, and easy transportation when closed. The cases are usually rotated to new lighthouses at each quarterly inspection.
Each case contains between 25-30 books covering broad topics an genres from fantasy stories, technical manuals, almanacs, encyclopedias, and, of course, government propaganda celebrating the recent accomplishments of the state. The contents are posted on the inside of the crate lid. Each year a keeper has the opportunity to read over 100 books. Keepers were responsible for replacing lost or damaged books. Members of the government archives are responsible for identifying and replacing obsolete books.

Tending the Flame Fuel Most flames are fueled by lard provided by local butchers, many of whom rely on the trade and commerce the ships facilitate. Lighthouses in truly remote areas had lard oil delivered. Each keeper is given a budget of 3 gold pieces a quarter for lard oil. While most keepers consider this flat rate sufficient, keepers in more expensive markets had to offset the costs with their personal funds.
Lard oil is stored in large glass containers with 6 containers in a case. The cases are usually stored in a separate stone building designed to contain an accidental fire. Government regulations prohibit more than two days of lard oil being stored inside the main building.
The lard was melted down and poured into the supply reservoir at the top of the lamp. An exhaust tube kept the lard a heated liquid by going through the middle of the reservoir before draining into the tube and through the float chamber. The burning wick would draw lard through the float valve. This kept the lard flowing from the supply reservoir to the wick.
The supply reservoir at the top of the lamp held enough fuel for two nights. During cold weather a small lamp would be placed under the tubes that carried the lard to the wick. This prevents the lard from cooling down and solidifying, clogging up the tubes.
The Lantern Room The light is kept at the top of the light house in a glassed-in lantern room. There are two circular, metal vents on either side of the lantern room that created a draft that provided air for the fire, proper ventilation for oil fumes and smoke, and prevented condensation on the lantern glass. The light itself is elevated in the center of the room to allow for the light to be seen from ships coming in from every angle of the area. A lightning rod tops the tower, protecting the tower, the light, and the residence from lightning strikes during a storm.
Fuel and other supplies are kept in the watch room, immediately below the lantern room. The open gallery platform allowed the keepers to climb up and clean the exterior lantern room windows.

Housing

-barn -icehouse -summer kitchen -summer bedroom -garage -workshop -oil house



In addition to the government deliveries, keepers and their families will maintain a vegetable garden, cows or chickens, catch nearby wild fish, and shoot wild game and migratory birds.

Instructions to the Keepers of Light Houses

1. You are to keep the lamp lights burning bright and clear every evening at sunset and keep them burning until sunrise.
2. The lamps, reflectors, and lanterns are to be kept clean. Particular care should be taken to prevent lamps, wood, or candles to be burning in any way that would cause a fire.
3. Wicks should be trimmed every four hours, allowing the greatest degree of light during the night. The wicks should be trimmed exactly even on the top.
4. You are to keep an exact record of the amount of oil purchased, the number of gallons, quarts, etc. consumed each night and deliver a copy of the same to the superintendent every three months. This also needs to include a record of all the oil on hand and in reserve.
5. You are to keep the lighthouse in respectable order in the event that a guest or inspector arrives. Laundry is to be put away before 10 AM and only six clothes hooks will be visible within the keeper's house.
6. You are not allowed to sell liquor or other inhibiting substances or allow liquor or other inhibiting substances to be sold on the premises. You must treat guests that visit the lighthouse with civility and attention, and encourage them to conduct themselves in an orderly manner.
7. You will receive no requisite items (tube-glasses, wicks, etc.) that are not in excellent condition. If any item shall not be of suitable kind or prove bad, you will immediately notify the superintendent so that they may rectify the situation with haste.
8. If you do not receive an adequate shipment of supplies, or of any supplies are omitted in shipment, you will give timely notice to the superintendent so that they may rectify the situation with haste.
9. You will not absent yourself from the lighthouse at any time, without first obtaining consent from the superintendent. If the event be so sudden and urgent as to not allow adequate notice, you may appoint a suitable substitute. You may be absent from your post for twenty-four hours.

Cottage Style Lighthouse: A lighthouse comprised of a small one story buildig with a light on top that housed the keeper(s).

Terms

Aid to Navigation - A buoy, beacon, lighthouse, lightship or any other structure or device installed, built or maintained for the purpose of assisting the navigation of vessels.
Arc of Visibility - The portion of the horizon over which a lighted aid to navigation is visible from seaward.
Astragal - Metal bar (running vertically or diagonally) dividing the lantern room glass into sections.
ATON - An acronym for Aid to Navigation.
Beacon - A lighted or unlighted fixed aid to navigation.
Breakwater - A fixed or floating structure that protects a shore area, harbor, anchorage, or basin by intercepting waves.
Bug Light - Usually a very small tower
Catwalk - A narrow elevated walkway, allowing the keeper access to light towers built out in the water.
Characteristic - The audible, visual, or individual flashing pattern of each light, which allows mariners to tell one lighthouse from another.
Clockwork Mechanism - The mechanism that turned the light in early lighthouses. They were made up of a series of gears, pulleys and weights, which had to be wound periodically by the keepers.
Directional Light - A light illuminating a sector or vry narrow angle and intended to makr a direction to be followed
Fog Signal - Any type of audible device that could warn mariners from obstacles during period of heavy fog when the light could not be seen. Bells, whistles and horns, either manually or power operated were all used with varying degrees of success.
Gallery - On a lighthouse tower, a platform or walkway or balcony located outside the watch room (main gallery) and/or lantern room (lantern gallery). Harbor Light - A light to guide ships safely into aharbor. This is usually a small light at the end of a pier.
Keeper - The person who takes care of the light in the lighthouse. (The Head Keeper is responsible for the operation of the light station.) Lantern A glass enclosure at the top of the lightouse tower, which housed the lighthouse lense.
Lens Glass optical system used to concentrate the lgiht in a desired direction.
Lighthouse Enclosed tower with an enclosed lantern built by a governing authority as an aid to naviagation.
Lightship A ship, usually fitted with a light beacon on the tall mast that served as a lighthouse where it was not practical to build one.
Light Station - A complex containing the lighthouse tower and all of the outbuildings, i.e. the keeper's living quarters, fuel storage building, boathouse, fog signaling building, etc.
Off Station - a floating aid to naviagation not on its assigned position.
Outer (or Front) Range Light - The light in a pair of range lights that is situated in front of the other as viewed from the water. This light was situated at a lower level than the inner range, to allow both lights to be seen, one above the other.
Parapet - A walkway with railings, which encircled the lamp room.
[b[Pier - A structure extending into navigable waters for use as a landing place, or to protect or form a harbor
Range Lights - Two lights associated to form a range, which often, but not necessarily, indicates a channel centerline. The front range light is the lower of the two, and nearer to the mariner using the range. The rear range light is higher and further from the mariner. When the ship is in the proper channel, the lights will be in alignment.
Riprap A loose arrangement of broken rocks or stone placed to help stem erosion.
Service Room Where fuel and other supplies were kept.
Shoal - shallow area, such as a sandbar or rock formation.
Sound Signal A device, which transmits sound, intended to provide information to mariners, during periods of restricted visibility and foul weather.
Stag Light A lighthouse tended to only by men (i.e. no families)
Tender A vessel used in the servicing of lighthouses and buoys.
Tower - Structure supporting the lantern room of the lighthouse.
Twin Light A few lights used to consist o ftwo seperate lights to distinguish them from neraby lights.
Watch Room - A room, usually located immediately beneath the lantern room, outfitted with windows through which a lighthouse keeper could observe water conditions during storm periods.
Wick Solid A solid cord used in spider lamps that draws fuel up to the flame by capillary action.
Wickie A nickname given to lighthouse keepers, derived from the task of trimming the wick of the lamp.